Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Exotic beauty, part 3
I told Kelly I knew the perfect place for her shoot in Downtown Denver. I had done an engagement shoot there the year before and knew it would be fantastic for her shoot as well. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it! I made poor Kelly hike all over the 16th Street Mall looking for it. (She didn't complain a bit, I might add, and didn't even look like she was sweating!) In the end, we found a street that was very similar, and we ducked into this cute vintage dress shop for her to change. While she was changing, her mom noticed this darling area in the front of the store that would be perfect for pictures. The shop also had these fantastic hats that matched perfectly what Kelly was wearing. It was fate! The first two pictures are in the dress shop, and the last one is outside in a brick archway. Kelly, you were so fun to photograph, and probably my easiest subject ever!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Exotic beauty, part 2
My senior shoot with Kelly was in two locations. The first was a gorgeous backyard of a personal friend, and the second was in downtown Denver. Here are three of my favorites from the first part of the shoot. Stay tuned for the downtown favorites!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Exotic beauty, part 1
Last night I did senior portraits for an absolutely gorgeous girl. She had long, dark hair, and big, blue eyes. I don't normally get to do a lot of fun effects on portraits, but I really went to town on hers! Here is one of my absolute favorites from the shoot, done six different ways. Which one is your favorite?
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Splendor in the grass
Yesterday I got go have a photoshoot with a wonderful family full of beautiful children. It has rained a lot in Denver lately, which means everything is lush and green. We went to a wonderful trail that goes by a river for the perfect location. Here are my favorites from the session so far:
I love how the wind caught her hair just at the right moment for this shot.
This one may be my new favorite portrait. I love the intensity of his eyes. When I look at this portrait, I think it personifies a boy on the cusp of manhood.
This one I love because of the little girl's expression. I wonder what she is thinking about.
I caught this shot of the parents while they were just interacting while waiting for me to set up. I love the palpable feelings of adoration that are evident between them.
Here is the whole family. This was the easiest shot of the whole session because nobody had to be looking at the camera!
I love how the wind caught her hair just at the right moment for this shot.
This one may be my new favorite portrait. I love the intensity of his eyes. When I look at this portrait, I think it personifies a boy on the cusp of manhood.
This one I love because of the little girl's expression. I wonder what she is thinking about.
I caught this shot of the parents while they were just interacting while waiting for me to set up. I love the palpable feelings of adoration that are evident between them.
Here is the whole family. This was the easiest shot of the whole session because nobody had to be looking at the camera!
Monday, May 18, 2009
Sweet one-year-old boy
This weekend I got to photograph the winners of my contest. They mainly wanted pictures of their 12-month-old son, but I couldn't resist getting some of the whole family. This little boy was such a doll. He would wave to me and come give me hugs (when he wasn't running around. That boy can move!) I had such a great time on this shoot and hope they did, too!
Beautiful album in earth tones
My friends (who you will recognize from the previous post) requested that I design an album for them. I chose these beautiful neutrals to coordinate with the gorgeous outdoor locale where they had their photoshoot. These albums are a wonderful way to get all your favorite portraits from your shoot, presented in a beautiful way. You can also get smaller 5x5 albums as gifts for parents and grandparents.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Farewell to our friends
Yesterday I got to photograph the stunning family of a friend from my missionary days. He and his family are moving half-way around the world, and I was so glad I got to do these portraits for them before they left. After the session, they came over for dinner and our girls had a great time playing together. We introduced them to the Wii, and now I think they might have to get one :) Check out the gorgeous portrait of all three kids together. It's my new favorite :)
Friday, April 17, 2009
We have a winner!
Congratulations to Jen Greffet for winning Blue Prints Photography's biggest giveaway ever! Thanks so much to everyone who entered! Be sure to check back to my blog often for news of other specials (I usually have them monthly). Now we can get crackin' on her photo shoot, as soon as it stops snowing....
Monday, April 13, 2009
Blue Prints Photography Biggest Giveaway Ever!
(This contest limited to Colorado residents only, unless you are willing to travel to Denver to claim your prize!)
For the first time ever, I am offering $200 worth of services and prizes to one lucky winner in the Denver/Colorado Springs area! The $200 credit will cover a 1-2 hour photo session and several prints, depending on which sizes you choose. All you have to do to enter is go to 30 Days and leave a comment on the post about the contest. If you would like a second entry, simply post about the contest on your own blog, including a link to the 30 Days blog and this blog (be sure to mention in your comment that you did so). For a third entry, just leave a comment under this post telling me which picture on this blog is your favorite. That's it! Good luck to everyone!
(Since I feel bad about everybody not being close enough to Denver to have a photo session, I will send a prize to a person who lives too far away if they win the contest. Or they can donate their $200 products and services credit to a friend who lives nearby).
For the first time ever, I am offering $200 worth of services and prizes to one lucky winner in the Denver/Colorado Springs area! The $200 credit will cover a 1-2 hour photo session and several prints, depending on which sizes you choose. All you have to do to enter is go to 30 Days and leave a comment on the post about the contest. If you would like a second entry, simply post about the contest on your own blog, including a link to the 30 Days blog and this blog (be sure to mention in your comment that you did so). For a third entry, just leave a comment under this post telling me which picture on this blog is your favorite. That's it! Good luck to everyone!
(Since I feel bad about everybody not being close enough to Denver to have a photo session, I will send a prize to a person who lives too far away if they win the contest. Or they can donate their $200 products and services credit to a friend who lives nearby).
Friday, April 10, 2009
How to choose a great photographer
Pick me! Pick me! That's all you need to know.
O.K., seriously folks, I ran across the website of another photographer tonight, and I started thinking about how people pick someone to photograph their children and families. I realized that it may be difficult to separate the good photographers from the bad, and to be able to tell what really "good" photography is. You may have had a friend come to you, giving you glowing reports about a photographer and showing you the cute pictures of their smiling children. Cute smiling kids must equal a great photographer, right? Not necessarily. Please consider the following:
Most new photographers suffer from a terrible syndrome. It is called "I am so awesome that I can hardly believe I'm real." I admit that I suffered from this syndrome at one point. Even though I had seen photography from really, really great and famous photographers, I somehow could not see that my photography was woefully lacking compared to theirs. All I knew is that my friends said I was awesome, and that was good enough for me. Of course, this syndrome was also tempered by the "I'm so terrible I can't believe people would actually pay me money" syndrome. This is a good syndrome to have! It pushed me to learn and grow and increase my skills. Unfortunately, some photographers only have the first syndrome, and never the second. Here are the telltale signs:
1. They post all 247 pictures from a session on their website with no editing whatsoever. There are loads of blurry pictures, pictures of babies crawling out of the scene, and even pictures that are corrupted where most of the frame is green.
2. They do "selective color," and do it badly. Everybody loves the black and white pictures of the little girl where only the pink rose is in color. But watch out for abnormally-colored eyes and other wonky colors that look fake. It means they probably are. Selective color should be used sparingly and add to the feel of the picture. It shouldn't be done just because Photoshop makes it possible.
3. They charge too little for their sessions and prints. I once read a book about photography that gave the advice to avoid any photographer who charged less than $100 for a session. At the time, I charged less than $100, so I thought this was bad advice. Looking back, I can tell you that it is, in fact, very good advice. Good photography is an investment. If you only want to pay for cheap photography, you'll get cheap photography. I understand that not everybody can afford hundred-dollar sessions. In my mind, it's something worth saving up for. You want beautiful portraits that will stand the test of time and not be thrown in a drawer.
4. Good photography is all about the light. A tell-tale sign of an amateur photographer is little round pinpoints of white in the eyes of his subjects. This means he has used on-camera flash, which is a total mood-killer and makes the pictures look anything but professional. Good light should most often come from the side, and you should be able to see a catchlight in the eyes. It can be any shape and come from any direction (especially in natural-light situations) but it should never, never be right in the middle of the pupil! Good professional photographers can use flash and make it not look like flash, and it is used most often to enhance the light, not be the main light source. Many wedding photographers have to use flash because of the lighting situations they encounter, but they will diffuse it or bounce it, or do most anything not to aim it directly at their subjects.
Whew! I could go on and on. But the next time you are considering a photographer, really look at their pictures and evaluate them for more than just whether or not the subject is smiling. Choose wisely, my friends!
O.K., seriously folks, I ran across the website of another photographer tonight, and I started thinking about how people pick someone to photograph their children and families. I realized that it may be difficult to separate the good photographers from the bad, and to be able to tell what really "good" photography is. You may have had a friend come to you, giving you glowing reports about a photographer and showing you the cute pictures of their smiling children. Cute smiling kids must equal a great photographer, right? Not necessarily. Please consider the following:
Most new photographers suffer from a terrible syndrome. It is called "I am so awesome that I can hardly believe I'm real." I admit that I suffered from this syndrome at one point. Even though I had seen photography from really, really great and famous photographers, I somehow could not see that my photography was woefully lacking compared to theirs. All I knew is that my friends said I was awesome, and that was good enough for me. Of course, this syndrome was also tempered by the "I'm so terrible I can't believe people would actually pay me money" syndrome. This is a good syndrome to have! It pushed me to learn and grow and increase my skills. Unfortunately, some photographers only have the first syndrome, and never the second. Here are the telltale signs:
1. They post all 247 pictures from a session on their website with no editing whatsoever. There are loads of blurry pictures, pictures of babies crawling out of the scene, and even pictures that are corrupted where most of the frame is green.
2. They do "selective color," and do it badly. Everybody loves the black and white pictures of the little girl where only the pink rose is in color. But watch out for abnormally-colored eyes and other wonky colors that look fake. It means they probably are. Selective color should be used sparingly and add to the feel of the picture. It shouldn't be done just because Photoshop makes it possible.
3. They charge too little for their sessions and prints. I once read a book about photography that gave the advice to avoid any photographer who charged less than $100 for a session. At the time, I charged less than $100, so I thought this was bad advice. Looking back, I can tell you that it is, in fact, very good advice. Good photography is an investment. If you only want to pay for cheap photography, you'll get cheap photography. I understand that not everybody can afford hundred-dollar sessions. In my mind, it's something worth saving up for. You want beautiful portraits that will stand the test of time and not be thrown in a drawer.
4. Good photography is all about the light. A tell-tale sign of an amateur photographer is little round pinpoints of white in the eyes of his subjects. This means he has used on-camera flash, which is a total mood-killer and makes the pictures look anything but professional. Good light should most often come from the side, and you should be able to see a catchlight in the eyes. It can be any shape and come from any direction (especially in natural-light situations) but it should never, never be right in the middle of the pupil! Good professional photographers can use flash and make it not look like flash, and it is used most often to enhance the light, not be the main light source. Many wedding photographers have to use flash because of the lighting situations they encounter, but they will diffuse it or bounce it, or do most anything not to aim it directly at their subjects.
Whew! I could go on and on. But the next time you are considering a photographer, really look at their pictures and evaluate them for more than just whether or not the subject is smiling. Choose wisely, my friends!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
